Jeremy Duns (born 10 December 1973) is a British author of

spy fiction Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intellig ...

and the history of espionage.

Early life

Duns was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and lived in New Zealand, India, Indonesia and Nigeria before the age of 10. He studied at

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...

Career

Between 1999 and 2006, Duns worked for the Belgian English-language media platform '' The Bulletin'' as a sub-editor, lifestyle editor and then assistant editor. In Britain he has written for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' newspapers. An admirer of

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

and

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

, Duns unearthed pages of a lost Bond novel, '' Per Fine Ounce'', early screenplays for '' Casino Royale'' and '' The Diamond Smugglers'', and researched a wartime

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

operation that inspired the opening of the film '' Goldfinger''. Duns writes

featuring an MI6 agent called Paul Dark, set during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. Duns's novels are influenced by Fleming,

Len Deighton Leonard Cyril Deighton ( ; born 18 February 1929) is a British author. His publications have included cookery books and works on history, but he is best known for his spy novels. After completing his national service in the Royal Air Force, D ...

and

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. A "sophist ...

; his debut novel, ''Free Agent'' (2009), was one of the ''Telegraph''s "thrillers of the year" in 2009. The BBC optioned the television rights to the Paul Dark series in 2009, although Duns' own website notes that the option has since lapsed. Duns is a member of

International Thriller Writers International Thriller Writers (ITW), was founded October 9, 2004, at Bouchercon XXXV, the "World Mystery and Suspense Conference", in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Six months later, some 150 authors with more than one billion books sold worldwide h ...

and the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

Stance on plagiarism and sockpuppetry

Duns has criticised other authors for

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

. In 2011 he praised the debut spy novel ''Assassin of Secrets'' by Q. R. Markham, but after reading allegations that a scene in the novel was plagiarised, Duns investigated and discovered that large sections of the novel had been copied. He informed the British publisher Hodder, and the book was pulled by Hodder and U.S. publisher

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

. Markham later publicly apologised. In 2012, he discovered that the novelist R. J. Ellory had written positive reviews of his own books while responding negatively to rivals, on the Amazon website through the use of sockpuppets. Ellory admitted he had done this, and apologised for it. Duns has also examined methods used by British author Stephen Leather since his admission in 2012 that he uses a network of sockpuppets to promote his own work online. Duns has also alleged that Leather has harassed him online in retaliation. In 2012, Duns helped organise an open letter signed by over 50 authors condemning the use by certain authors of sockpuppets, fake reviews and other deceptive marketing techniques.

Personal life

Duns lived in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden from 2004, and subsequently moved to the Swedish-speaking

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

islands, in Finland.

Bibliography

*''

Free Agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

'' (2009) * ''Song of Treason'' (2010) * ''The Moscow Option'' (2012) * ''The Dark Chronicles: A Spy Trilogy'' (2012) * ''Dead Drop: The True Story of Oleg Penkovsky and the Cold War's Most Dangerous Operation'' (2013) * ''News of Devils: The Media and Edward Snowden'' (2014)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duns, Jeremy 1973 births Living people Writers from Manchester British expatriates in Finland British writers Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford